Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Keysight Technologies, Inc.

Douglas James Beck

John Howard Friedman

Michael A Upham

Douglas Fred Robison

Michael Shaun Backsen

Cheryl Brown

Richard A Nygaard, Jr

Daniel P Timm

Jeffrey John Haeffele

Michael R Fender

Warren S Tustin

Kristopher A Larsen

Mason Bradfield Samuels

Clarence Keith Griggs

Jeffrey Erickson Roeca

Takuya Furuta

William Michael Rainaldi

Natalie Overstreet Ramsey

Gregory J Sajdak

A method and test system are provided for selectively emphasizing waveforms on a display of the test system. The method includes presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) on the display of the test system; receiving through the GUI a selection of channels to be viewed on the display; receiving through the GUI an indication enabling a waveform emphasis feature; receiving through the GUI an indication of a cycle time; and displaying through the GUI multiple waveforms, respectively produced by the selected channels, by sequentially emphasizing each waveform of the multiple waveforms for the cycle time as a viewable waveform, while de-emphasizing each remaining waveforms of the multiple waveforms in relation to the emphasized waveform for the cycle time.

System and method for selectively displaying waveforms using graphical user interface

A method for operating a data processing system having a touch enabled display screen that displays a plurality of waveforms to alter the display of one of the waveforms without altering the display of the remaining waveforms is disclosed. The method includes determining a selected waveform in response to a user touching the display screen in a first location thereby defining a touch area that determines the selected waveform. An operation that is to be performed on the selected waveform is then defined by a gesture on the screen. The selected waveform is determined by a touch area that is defined by the user touching the screen. If more than one waveform is defined by the touch area, the possible waveforms are sequentially selected until the correct one is presented to the user in response to the user repeating the touching that defines the touch area.

Method for selecting waveforms on electronic test equipment

A waveform display method is disclosed. The method includes determining the narrowest pulse in a waveform for display and determining an available pixel width for displaying the narrowest pulse in a first display portion if the entire waveform is to be displayed in the first display portion. The pixel width is measure in terms of a number of pixels. The method further includes displaying the entire waveform or a portion thereof in the first display portion depending on the available pixel width. A signal measurement system that implements the method is also disclosed.

Waveform display method and a signal measurement system implementing the same

A method of mapping device pins to logic analyzer channels in preparation for a digital test includes accepting a correlation of at least one test connector to one or more logic analyzer pods and presenting a display showing available test connector pins for each defined test connector. A user may then select a one to one assignment of one or more signal pins to the test connector pins to establish a mapping configuration.

Method and apparatus for mapping signals of a device under test to logic analyzer measurement channels

A system is disclosed for manipulating buses and signals on a display window of a graphical user interface of a logic analyzer. Each signal is associated on the display with representations of its sampled data, which may be in the form of lists or of waveforms. The system enables a user to graphically associate the buses and signals. Also, the buses and signals may be visually associated on the display window with user-specified trigger-conditions. The User may graphically associate the signals into buses by selecting the signals then grouping them by selecting a group command. Responsive to this grouping, the system may generate a bus representing the grouped signals. The bus may be graphically associated with the grouped signal-name elements, such as, for example, by a hierarchical structure. The system, responsive to the grouping by the user of the signals into buses, generates bus-data elements representing signal data associated with the grouped signals. The system may visually associate the bus with the bus-data element, either by horizontal or vertical alignment.

System and method for manipulating relationships among signals and buses of a signal measurement system on a graphical user interface

A logic analyzer integrates the capabilities of both textual and graphical description into a common environment, so that each can be used as needed, and in conjunction with the other. In an example embodiment a trigger specification can comprise many &ldquo;steps&rdquo;. A step can be conceptualized as an atomic segment of flow charting that involves or investigates a quantity or condition of interest. These steps may involve testing, and a decision concerning whether or not to trigger or whether or not to advance to a next step. A given step can be either textual or graphical. A GUI (Graphical User Interface, as in computer windows, and not to be confused with 'graphical' meaning 'waveform-like') on a CRT screen in conjunction with a pointing device (e.g., mouse) provides the presentation of the integrated textual and graphical (waveform-like) trigger specification steps.

Logic analyzer with mixed textual and graphical trigger specification

A system is disclosed for displaying one or more lists of signal or bus identifiers on a graphical user interface of a logic analyzer. One of the lists is visually associated with one name of a list of signal or bus names. The system enables a user to graphically select one or more desired identifiers of the one or more lists of signal or bus identifiers. The selection of an identifier in a list visually associated with a name assigns a signal or bus identified by that identifier with the name. The lists of signal or bus identifiers may be visually associated with the signal or bus names by horizontal alignment.

System and method for defining and grouping signals and buses of a signal measurement system using selection lists on a graphical user interface

A system is disclosed for enabling a user to specify a trigger condition of a signal or bus by enabling the user to graphically select the signal or bus from a hierarchically arranged list of signal or bus names. The user may make this selection from a graphical user interface of a signal measurement system. The user also graphically selects the signal trigger condition. A trigger-specification element identifying the trigger condition is visually associated with a displayed name of the first signal or bus. The user may select the signal trigger condition of the first signal or bus by selecting the first trigger-specification element. The signal measurement system may be a logic analyzer. The hierarchically arranged list may be vertically aligned and each signal or bus name may be visually associated with one of a first group of trigger-specification elements by horizontal alignment. Each of the first group of trigger-specification elements enables the user to choose from a group of trigger condition choices consisting of any one of: rising-edge, falling-edge, either-edge, low-level, high-level, don't care, bus, positive pulse, and negative pulse. Each of the first group of trigger-specification elements may be associated with a trigger condition that occurs at a first point in time. The system further may enable a user to specify a second trigger condition of the first signal or bus by selecting from a second group of trigger-specification elements that are visually associated with the names of the plurality of signals or buses. Each of the second group of trigger-specification elements may be associated with a trigger condition that occurs at a second point in time. The second group of trigger-specification elements may be displayed to the right of the first group of trigger-specification elements. The second period of time occurs later than the first period of time.

System and method for specifying trigger conditions of a signal measurement system using hierarchical structures on a graphical user interface

Waveform segment(s) of interest in the displayed logic analyzer trace can create the desire in an operator to re-define the trigger specification to be those segments. Those waveform segments are identified to the logic analyzer by drawing a &ldquo;rubber band&rdquo; box around them even as they are displayed as part of the trace. The analyzer is instructed to automatically create therefrom, by itself, the desired new trigger specification. It does this by inspecting the captured data corresponding to the contents of the box and creating a description of the associated signal(s) in terms of transitions and steady state conditions. These individual descriptions of activity are then assembled into a trigger specification according to certain rules. More than one box may be drawn. Multiple-boxes may be &ldquo;stacked&rdquo; to include waveform segments separated vertically by intervening waveforms for other signals that are to be excluded. Boxed transitions that appear to line up vertically are treated as though they happened at the same time, even if they in actual fact, did not. Multiple boxes may be displaced horizontally, in which case a sequential ordering of separate events is generally implied. Screens having auxiliary menus needed to complete the trigger specification are automatically produced.

Logic analyzer with trigger specification defined by waveform exemplar

A system is disclosed for enabling a user to specify one or more trigger conditions by graphically creating a pictorial representation of the trigger conditions. The pictorial representation is presented on a display window of a graphical user interface of a logic analyzer and is accomplished using trigger-condition icons. Each icon represents a trigger condition of a signal or bus. The user specifies the trigger conditions by positioning the trigger-condition icons on the display window. The user does this by selecting, dragging, and dropping the trigger-condition icons onto the display window. The display window may include one or more name elements, each associated with a signal or a bus. The user may specify the trigger condition of a first signal or bus by selecting a trigger-condition icon and positioning it at a first position on the display window in horizontal alignment with the name element of the first signal or bus. Responsive to this action, the system displays a first trigger-condition element at the first position. The user may select the trigger-condition icon from a group of icons consisting of rising-edge icon, falling-edge icon, either-edge icon, low-level icon, high-level icon, don't care icon, bus icon, positive pulse icon, and negative pulse icon. The display window may include one or more vertically aligned constant time lines. The first position may be located on a first constant-time line, and the user may select other position on other constant-time lines. The user may specify a time-limit between the first and second constant-time lines, and or between the second and third constant-time lines. This specification may be that the time-limit is an indefinite time period, or that it is less than or greater than a user-specified time period. The system includes a trigger specifier that determines a combined trigger condition for a first state corresponding to the first constant-time line based on the first and second trigger-condition elements and one or more boolean expressions. These expressions may be predetermined, or they may be user-specified.

System and method for specifying trigger conditions of a signal measurement system using graphical elements on a graphical user interface

An integrated trigger function display system and methodology for trigger definition development in a signal measurement system having a graphical user interface. The system contemporaneously displays one or more trigger function names and an associated trigger function descriptor describing a trigger function identified by the associated trigger function name. The trigger name is displayed in a trigger name display region of a display window that concurrently displays a plurality of trigger function names. The descriptor is displayed in a trigger descriptor region of the display window so as to be visually-associated by the operator. A trigger definition is comprised of one or more trigger functions. Each trigger function is a graphical representation of an one or more underlying trigger primitives. A trigger primitive is a computer program statement that is translated into a form suitable for controlling the signal measurement system. Trigger primitives comprise one or more trigger branches used to form a sequence level of the trigger definition. For a selected trigger function, either the trigger function or its underlying trigger primitives are displayed in a trigger definition region of the display window for editing by the operator. Preferably, multiple such trigger functions or primitives may be selected and displayed simultaneously or sequentially to form a desired trigger definition.

Integrated trigger function display system and methodology for trigger definition development in a signal measurement system having a graphical user interface

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Colorado Springs, CO, United States of America

Douglas James Beck